Chances are your dog will spend a lot of time with you. But he’s also likely to come into contact with other people, and, of course, other dogs. Ideally, when these situations occur your dog will be confident and won’t exhibit inappropriate aggression or fear.Here’s some tips to help you train your dog to be comfortable in social situations.
Start Early
Trainers and behaviorists generally agree that dogs begin learning many responses when they are still puppies. So if you want your dog to be comfortable around other dogs and other people, you need to get started right from puppy-hood.
Give Your Puppy New Experiences
It’s important to get your puppy desensitized to a variety of experiences so that he’s used to all the many sights, sounds, smells, and other sensations that he’s likely to encounter at some point in his life.
The process, which people sometimes refer to as socialization, should include exposure to different surroundings (such as city streets, parks, waterfront locations, public buildings, various rooms in your house) and noises (lawnmowers, vacuum cleaners, motorcycles, children playing).
Give your puppy an opportunity to walk on different kinds of surfaces and observe a variety of moving vehicles, from bicycles and scooters to buses and trains.
You should also get your puppy used to a variety of people. Expose your dog to people of different ages and ethnic backgrounds, who may wear different styles of dress. Try to get your dog used to seeing people with umbrellas and people in wheelchairs.
Make Sure Your Dog Is Always Comfortable
Exposing your puppy or dog to a variety of experiences is very important. But you must make sure the experience is a positive one for your dog.
It helps to bear in mind that your dog is always learning. Therefore, anytime she has a nice, rewarding time, she’s learning to be more calm and confident. If, on the other hand, she becomes uncomfortable, you risk teaching her something else. She may learn that certain things or people are scary, unpleasant, or even dangerous.
Watch your dog. Use your understanding of her body language to tell if she’s relaxed, or aroused, or anxious. If she ever seems too anxious, or if she shows signs of fear or aggressiveness, that’s a sign that you’ve pushed her too far, too fast.
This is particularly important if your dog is on the timid side. Some dogs are inherently more confident than others. If your dog tends to be under-confident, take special care in exposing her to other dogs and people. Pushing a timid dog too fast can make her fearfulness become worse, instead of better.
Kamis, 22 April 2010
How To Train a Dog To Accept Other Dogs and People
When Punishment Can Backfire
One of the worst things people do when they are trying to train a dog for recalls is to punish a dog who hasn’t come right away. Think about it. Your dog takes off up the street. You call her. She doesn’t hear you. Or maybe she does hear you, but she’s having too much fun to come to you.
Finally, you manage to catch up to her and get your hand on her collar. If you punish her now, you’ll only teach her one thing: that letting you catch her results in bad things.
So, no matter how frustrated you are, no matter how embarrassing it is to be seen running after your dog, no matter how upset or angry you feel, you must always, always make your dog glad when she is finally back near you again.
Don’t Take Risks
Experienced trainers know better than to risk their dogs’ lives on their recalls. They know that, no matter how well a dog is trained, things can go wrong. So if you are outdoors with your dog in a situation that is dangerous-where he might be hit by a car, for example, or be lost or injured - keep him on a leash.
Manage Your Expectations
Don’t expect your dog to have a solid recall overnight. Mastering this behavior takes time. Plan to measure your dog’s progress over months, even years. That way you’ll avoid getting frustrated and will be able to focus on your dog’s successes.
Dog Recall Training Tips
Some people train a backup recall cue. The purpose of this cue is to have another tool for absolute emergencies-if your dog is heading toward a busy highway, for example, or a potentially dangerous wild animal. It works a lot like saying, “Cookies!” or, Dinnertime!” - only you set it up deliberately as a backup recall cue.
First, pick a word that you seldom use in normal conversation, like “Eureka.” Then, several times a week, say that word, and when you do, give your dog a really fabulous food reward. The food should be high value (something the dog really loves) and there should be enough of it that it takes your dog thirty seconds or so to eat it all.
Finally, never, ever use the word without pairing it with this extra special treat - unless it is a real emergency and you don’t happen to have extra special treats with you.
Rabu, 21 April 2010
How To Train A Dog - The Right Way
There are so many theories and so much conflicting advice regarding the various ways to train our dogs - it's hard to know who to trust and what to believe.This is what I personally consider to be crucial, and always strive for when training my own dogs:
* To build a strong owner-dog relationship, based on trust and mutual respect.
* To have confidence in, and control of my dogs in any situation.
* Most importantly to have happy, outgoing dogs that are properly socialized.
* To work with my dogs natural drives and instincts.
* Absolutely no cruelty or harsh "old school" training techniques. I certainly don't believe you have to "break a dogs spirit" in the training process.
